ABSTRACT
Tuberculosis is a major public health problem throughout the world. TB's worldwide patterns of prevalence coupled with the increase in incidence of HIV infection threaten the health and lives of humans worldwide. Rapid detection of TB and the rapidly initiation of the administration of medication are important strategies for stopping the transmission of this disease transmission and its resistance to anti-TB drugs. Molecular methods are advantageous relative to conventional techniques due to their greater speed and sensitivity in the detection of TB. In this study, we targeted the cyp141 gene for the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from clinical specimens [n = 123] by PCR and compared the sensitivity and specificity of this new target with those of IS6110 gene. Targeting of the cyp141 gene is more sensitive [97.1% for cultured isolates and 85.7% for direct specimens] than the targeting of the commonly used IS6110 gene [95.1% for cultured isolates and 42.9% for direct specimens], and the specificities of these two target genes were equal [100%]. The cyp141 gene can be used as a new target for the direct detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis that seems to be superior to IS6110